The sun dipped low over the horizon. And for the millionth time in the past four years, Gregor wished he wasn't able to see it. He was sitting alone on the roof of a shabby apartment building in the projects of Manhattan that he and his family called home. Seemingly just a regular sixteen-year-old boy, worried about some trivial teenage angst. But Gregor was about as far from normal as any person could be. A regular teenager didn't have countless scars crisscrossing virtually every surface of his body. Or have the acute senses of a natural born killer. A normal boy also didn't dream of a secret place located hundreds of miles under New York City, a place called the Underland, where huge bats swooped across the sky and a violet-eyed race of people lived peacefully with giant rats, cockroaches, spiders, and mice that was completely unknown to entire overland population.

Well-almost entire. Gregor and his family were an acceptation. It had all started when his father had disappeared down the laundry chute in the basement of their apartment building. He had been missing for three years when Gregor and his two-year-old sister Boots had accidently discovered the portal to the Underland as well. So far, there were only two portals he knew of. The shaft in his laundry room, and the large, flat rock located in the center of Central Park. The laundry room was put off-limits by his mother; for fear that one of her children would be snatched away to again. He shifted slightly, looking back towards the door to the roof. The handle turned and the door protested slightly as a small, twelve year old face peeked through the opening. Lizzie, Gregor's younger sister and brilliant puzzle-solver stepped out into the fading sunlight and silently closed the door behind her. Without a word, she settled herself down next to her older brother.

"Your thinking about it, aren't you? And about her." They both knew what she was talking about. A warrior and rager, a born fighter with extreme skill, Gregor had starred in several prophesies that proclaimed the Underland's doom. He had fulfilled them all, alongside his first and only love, Luxa, the young queen of the underground human city, Regalia, and his bond and best friend, the midnight black bat, Ares.

Luxa.

Ares.

He saw the beautiful girl in his mind, and struggled to hide the pain on his face. He loved her wholeheartedly and as much as he tried to block the memories, Gregor had thought about Luxa every second of the past four years. Her regal stance, her strong and stubborn, but loyal, personality…Stop it, he told himself. You can't break down in front of Lizzie. You have to be strong.

But Ares, the brave bat that had chosen to save Gregor's life instead of the life of his previous bond, Henry, Ares had died in battle with the Bane, a crazed white rat that had plans to destroy Regalia and all of its inhabitants.

I've got to get in closer if I'm going to take him out, Gregor had said during the fight with the demented creature.

Hang on! Ares had instructed him as he dove under the Bane's foreleg. But it was all wrong. Ares had been too close to the Bane.

Get out! Get out, Ares! Gregor had begged. But it was too late. The Bane had ripped the fragile flesh of the large bat's wing, and with a yank, grabbed the bat out from under Gregor and sank his teeth into Ares' neck.

Gregor had to control the emotion that rose up and threatened the break free inside of him. As soon as the rock in Central Park that was one of the only portals to his happiness was pushed into place, separating him from the only love he had ever known, he had had to master the art of controlling his feelings. No one spoke of aloud of the Underland. It was an unspoken rule in his family.

Exactly four years, two months, and fifteen days had passed since he had last been in the Underland, and exactly four years, two months, and fifteen days since he had last felt happiness. His family needed him. His mother was already working two jobs, his father was bedridden and frail, and his two sisters were too young to work. They were barely scraping by, and their refrigerator and cupboards were almost always bare. Only a sense of duty to his family, and thousands of feet of rock, separated Gregor from the Underland.

"Yeah. I guess I am," Gregor answered to his sister. Lizzie cocked her head, studying her older brother. In the past couple of years he had filled out quite a bit. Tall and muscular, he always looked so solemn. She rarely ever saw him smile. Lizzie had a talent for reading the feelings of the people around her, and she knew that he was more often than not unhappy. She and Gregor were the only ones who still mentioned it, the Underland. They had both made irreplaceable friends down there, and often confined in each other. She stayed silent and waited for Gregor to talk next.

"I'm okay Liz. It's over. There's no going back. You know that it would probably kill mom to have one of us disappear again. I'm fine. Really." Gregor's mother especially detested the Underland. She saw it as a terrible place that had stolen her husband and children from her too many times to be forgiven.

Lizzie just listened, and thought to herself. He's not fine. I know how much I've been in pain, but I know that I can't compare to Gregor. I saw him and Luxa together. I know what I saw between them, and I know it was true love.

But they both knew that the family would fall apart with Gregor there to act as the glue that held them all together. Lizzie knew that nothing she could say would help her brother heal his wounds, and she silently rose and returned the door. With a last sympathetic look towards Gregor, she turned and walked down the stairs.

And so another night begins, Gregor thought. Night was the time he hated most. The time when his mind was free to wonder through his memories. The hardest time to block out thought of the only place he ever felt like he belonged to. It was painful to think about because he knew he would never go back. Gregor took a last look at the melting lava of the sunset, then stood quickly and followed his sister downstairs.